Representation of the People Act 1969

Background

The 1960s were a period of growing political and cultural demands by young people in Britain, as in other Western democracies. The British political establishment developed a uniquely liberal response, described by Arthur Marwick, a British social historian, as "measured judgement".

Provisions

The act extended suffrage to 18-year-olds, the first democratic nation to lower its age of franchise to include this age group. Previously, only those aged over 21 were permitted to vote.

Section 12 of the act allowed candidates to include on the ballot paper, alongside their name, a six-word description including party or other political affiliation. Previously, the "description" mandated by the Ballot Act 1872 was presumed to indicate profession, occupation, or social rank; political descriptions were deprecated, and definitively prohibited by the Representation of the People Act 1948. The 1969 act did not empower returning officers to challenge the accuracy of the description. The provision (restated in 1983) was exploited by spoiler candidates using descriptions confusingly close to those of major parties; notoriously, the Liberal Democrat candidate lost a 1994 Euro election when Richard Huggett took votes running as a "Literal Democrat". The Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 dealt with this problem by creating a register of political parties.

In local government elections, the act abolished plural voting, except in the City of London.

Short title, commencement and extent

Section 27(1) of the act provided that sections 1, 2 and 3 and so far as relates to qualification of voting at local government elections, section 15, of the act, would come into force as to have effect with respect to the registers of electors for the year 1970.

Section 27(2) of the act provided that section 23 of the act so far as it relates to the age for voting at ward elections or to sections 1 or 3 of the act would come into force as to have effect with respect to the ward lists for the year 1970.

Section 27(3) of the act provided that the act would come into force on a day or days appointed by the home secretary by statutory instrument. The Representation of the People Act 1969 (Commencement) Order 1969 (SI 1969/630) provided specific commencement dates for acts enactments listed in the schedules to the statutory instrument.

The Representation of the People Act 1969 (Commencement No. 2) Order 1971 (SI 1971/544) provided that section 18(1) of the act would come into force on 1 July 1971.

The Representation of the People Act 1969 (Commencement No. 3) Order 1976 (SI 1976/2064) provided that the rest of the act would come into force on 1 February 1977, namely paragraph 4 of part II of schedule 2 to the act.

Section 28 of the act provided that the act may be cited as the "Representation of the People Act, 1969" and may be cited as a Representation of the People Act.

Aftereffects

The first election affected by this change of law was the Bridgwater by-election held on 13 March 1970 following the death of the sitting MP. The next general election was on 18 June 1970.

Case law subsequently established the right for undergraduate students to vote in the constituency of their university. This followed an appeal to the High Court.

The approach to the challenge of radical youth culture taken by the UK political establishment, which primarily involved strategies of co-option and compromise, was able to stymie much of the rising social and political tension that convulsed some other liberal democracies in 1968 through to the early 1970s.

The 1969 act, sometimes known as the Sixth Reform Act, did not extend the right to stand as a candidate for election to Parliament to under-21s. The age of candidacy for elections in the United Kingdom was lowered from 21 to 18 in 2006, with the passing of the Electoral Administration Act 2006.

Legacy

The whole act was repealed by section 206 of, and part II of schedule 9 to, the Representation of the People Act 1983, a consolidation act which restated many of its provisions.

Notes

References

Bibliography

References

1. Marwick, Arthur. (2011-09-28). "The Sixties: Cultural Revolution in Britain, France, Italy, and the United States, c.1958-c.1974". A&C Black.
2. (2021-04-03). "A coming of age: how and why the UK became the first democracy to allow votes for 18-year-olds". Contemporary British History.
3. (2021-11-03). "Lowering the voting age: three lessons from the 1969 Representation of the People's Act".
4. Bingham, Adrian. (25 June 2019). "'The last milestone' on the journey to full adult suffrage? 50 years of debates about the voting age".
5. Gay 1998 pp. 20–21
6. Gay 1998 pp. 23–24
7. Gay 1998 pp. 24, 26, 28
8. Gay 1998 p. 6
9. Halsey, Albert Henry. (1988). "British Social Trends since 1900". Springer.
10. (24 February 1999). "City of London (Ward Elections) Bill".
11. "1969 Representation of the People Act".
12. Stephen D. Fisher & Nick Hillman. "Do students swing elections? Registration, turnout and voting behaviour among full-time students". HEPI.
13. Stephen D. Fisher & Nick Hillman. "Do students swing elections? Registration, turnout and voting behaviour among full-time students". HEPI.
14. "Members of Parliament Chadderton".
15. Kitching, Paula. "Political Reform: Lesson Plan 6: Overview".
16. (2006). "Electoral Administration Act 2006". gov.uk.